The Forgotten Joy of Burning CDs

As I got older, the thrill of receiving a mix CD was supplanted by the thrill of making one. I burned them for everyone I had a crush on in middle school, painstakingly adding and removing and re-adding songs to the tracklists, changing up the order (and changing it, and changing it, and changing it again) until I was satisfied that it said "I like... See more

Analog media was a part of life. And there was so much of it: Daily newspapers, a gigantic TV that took up a lot of space, VHS tapes, DVDs, vinyls, audio cassette tapes, CDs, a large stereo to enjoy your music, books, encyclopedias to look something up, dictionaries, magazines for inspiration, recipe clippings, coupons, a physical calendar to remem... See more

When we are grieving record stores, mixtapes, old-school romance, and friends goofing around in ‘90s high schools, what are we actually grieving? Delayed gratification. Deeper connection. Play and fun. Risk and thrill. Life with less obsessive self-scrutiny. These are things we can reclaim—if we remember what they are worth and roll back the phone-... See more

As we grow accustomed to the convenience of shuffling a generated playlist, we forget that discovering music is an active exercise.